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Family Dog Season One
The first season of the animated comedy series Family Dog aired on Cartoon Network from January 31 to May 16, 1999, and consisted of seven episodes. The series follows the dysfunctional Blake family—father Zayn, mother Janet, daughter May, son Darwin, baby Benjamin and their anthropomorphic fish George, all of whom reside in their hometown of Rochester. The executive producers for the first season were Patrick Rex and McGregor. The series premiere, "Dead Zayn on Campus", was broadcast directly after and was watched by 22.01 million viewers. The series received praise from most critics, particularly "I Dead You" and "Murderous Minding". However some critics disliked the themes of the episodes. The Volume One Box Set DVD, including all seven episodes and the second season, was released in Region 1 on April 15, 2003, Region 2 on November 12, 2001, and Region 4 on October 20, 2003. The series has since been released in syndication.[4] MacFarlane conceived the idea for Family Dog in 1989, while studying animation at the California School of Design and Development. There, he created his thesis film Time To Shine ''in 1995, which his professor at RISD later submitted to Hanna-Barbera; this led to McGregor being hired by the company. Executives at Cartoon Network saw the ''Dennis shorts and contracted McGregor to create a series based on the characters entitled Family Dog. While working on the series, Dennis and his wife Jean slowly evolved into Zayn and Janet; the rest of the series characters were added later. List of Episodes "Dead Zayn on Campus" Written by Louisa Jefferson Directed by Bruno McGregor Date: January 31, 1999 TV PG LV 1ACX01 After realizing he never completed college,Zayn Blake goes to college. He gets suspended, and discovers that he misses class. Janet is upset when she finds out after receiving a school parent information slip in the mail; Zayn attempts to make her happy by flying a blimp above Super Bowl XXXIII saying "I'M SORRY JANET" with the help of George. Both are arrested by security guards and prosecuted for unlicensed blimp flying. At the courthouse, Janet pleads with the judge not to imprison Zayn; Benjamin, grudgingly coming to realize his dependence on his parents, influences the judge to reconsider the sentence. 2."I Dead You"https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Sheridan_(writer)February 14, 1999 TV 14 D 1ACX02 Zayn has become addicted to love letters. While driving May Blake home, he is distracted by a love letter thief news story on a television in a nearby house, and crashes into the city's police news transmitter, cutting information about the thief for the entire city of Rochester. Zayn panics and steals the transmitter and convinces May to take blame for the outage. Benjamin Blake steals the satellite dish in a plan to create a weather control device. Suffering withdrawal syndrome from lack of love letters, Peter straps a cardboard cutout to himself, making it appear as though the world is a television program. May confesses that her father actually was to blame for the cable outage, causing the town to turn against him; he is saved when Janet gives a heartfelt speech to the community. Inspired, Zayn brings the family to various outdoor activities, quickly exhausting them; he then goes off with VeggieTales characters. Meanwhile, Benjamin's weather machine catches the bandit; while May is practicing driving, the storm causes her to accidentally hit Junior and Peter, killing Junior and hospitalizing Zayn. As her father recovers in a full-body cast, he is forced to watch television, causing him to become addicted once again. "Death is the New Black" Homer Smith Julie Roberts February 21, 1999 TV 14 DLV 1ACX04 Zayn accidentally loses the reservation for Benjamin's first birthday party at a local restaurant, and must create a new party. Meanwhile, Benjamin misinterprets "birthday", assuming that the mysterious physician who delivered him as an infant will be coming back to force him back into Janet's womb. Zayn fails to put together a party in time for Benjamin's birthday, and reroutes a circus parade into the Blakes' backyard. He gives May permission to go to a "party" at her friend's house, not realizing that it is a cult meeting where the attenders will commit suicide by drinking poisoned fruit punch. Zayn retrieves May before the cult members drink the punch. The cult leader notices that May did not drink; he puts on his white robe and goes to the Blakes' house. Benjamin traps and kills the cult leader, thinking he is the physician. 44"Suicidal Diaries" Ronald O'Neal Van Wilson & Margaret Hamlin February 28, 1999 TV 14 DS 1ACX03 Benjamin has begun teething; Janet explains to him that the pain will pass with time, so he decides to build a time machine. Janet asks Zayn to take Darwin Blake to a soccer game; there, Zayn punches a pregnant woman and is put under house arrest. Zayn decides to open a bar in his basement so that his friends will come to visit; it becomes a hot spot and Janet becomes upset until she sings at the bar. Janet becomes jealous and has his friends' wives to drag them out of the bar. A cigarette starts a fire; when Zayn and Janet become aware of it and attempt to escape, Benjamin's time machine takes everyone back to the point when Janet asks Zayn to take Darwin to the game. This time, Zayn trips over the time machine and destroys it. 5. "Murder at Bat" Archie S, Stanford Louisa Harris & Bruno McGregor March 7, 1999 TV 14 LV 1ACX05 After Zayn injures the Let's Have a Ball Glass Factory's new employee Vaughn during softball practice, he is forced by his boss Mr. Winston to find a replacement for the upcoming softball game. Meanwhile, Janet meets the Blake family's new neighbors, the Robinsons. Zayn is initially annoyed by Mark Robinson and has no interest in becoming his friend, but convinces Mark to play for the softball team once Lois mentions that he played baseball in college. Next morning at the game, Zayn is surprised to learn that Mark is wheelchair-bound. Mark's experience helps the team win. Zayn becomes jealous of Mark and tries to become a hero by stopping a robbery; he ends up as a hostage until Mark convinces the robbers to surrender. Zayn is disappointed, but his family tells him that he is their hero. 6. "Dead Boy's Beret" Louise Bennett Hennessey ClarkMay 9, 1999 TV 14 DL 1ACX06 Darwin is ejected from the Boy Scouts when he runs over the troop leader with a car. Although Darwin dislikes scouts and prefers drawing, he fears telling Zayn. When Zayn finds out, he drives the family to the scout headquarters in Manhattan to get Chris readmitted. On a rest stop at a 100+ year old casino, Janet becomes a gambling addict and loses the family car. Since each Native American receives a share of the casino profits, Peter pretends to be a Native American, and he is sent on a vision quest to prove his heritage. Darwin accompanies Zayn to explain that he only likes drawing. Delirious from hunger, Zayn begins talking to anthropomorphic trees and has a vision of his spiritual guide, Bugs Bunny. Zayn recognizes his son's talent for drawing; they return to the casino and reclaim the car. 7. "Murder by Dog" Michael Harvey Dean Stanislaus April 4, 1999 TV 14 DLSV 1ACX07 Rochester is in the grip of an unusual heat wave. The Blakes ask George to enter a fish show, offering a top prize of $500, so they are able to buy air conditioning. George performs his tricks at the show; Zayn asks George to beg for a treat, but finds it demeaning and exits quickly. On the way home, Zayn and George argue until Brian exits the car; the police give Brian a ticket for violating the local no-fish law. Another debate ensues and Zayn mentions that he found George as a sewer fish. George is furious that Zayn had brought that up and leaves the house, whereupon he is badly treated by the community. Zayn buys a new parakeet which turns out to be vulgar; the family abandons it and searches for George. By the time Zayn decides to apologize to George, he has been taken away by the police and awaits his death sentence. George begins to plead his case, but the court decides "it is stupid" to listen to a fish. As he is about to be dismissed, Zayn steps in and delivers a last-ditch emotional appeal on his behalf. The city council members hearing the case are not on George's side, but Zayn promises to give them $20 each, convincing them to free George. The charges against George are dropped and the town shows him new respect.